Iran lawmaker nixes Turkey as talks venue

The head of an influential foreign policy committee in Iran’s parliament says the country is not interested in having Turkey host talks with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear programme. The comments by Alaeedin Boroujerdi do not represent the final word by Iran’s ruling system, but strongly suggest a possible impasse ahead of talks set to start April 13. Boroujerdi was quoted as saying Thursday that Turkey is no longer acceptable because of its policies — a reference to Turkish pressures on the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key Iranian ally. Boroujerdi supports Baghdad as a venue, one of several alternative sites floated by Iran in recent days. Boroujerdi’s comments appeared in the independent Etemad daily.